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SPEECH 



HON. S;''A. smith, of TENNESSEE, 



Q STATE OF AFFAIRS IN KANSAS. 
^.' __. 

DELIVERED IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, JUNE 25, 1856. 



Mr. Speaker, if I can get the attention of the House, I wish to 
submit a few remarks now upon this bill, not in the spirit, howevei-, 
in which they seemed to fall from the gentleman from Pennsylvania. 
The time has come, it seems to me, when reason and not passion 
ought to reign. Since the adoption of the federal constitution we 
have passed through many scenes of excitement and disturbances 
of the public mind, and at the close of all of them considerate men 
of most of the political parties that have existed in the country have 
been read}'" to come to some reasonable conclusion upon a fair, just, 
and equitable settlement of the questions which divided the different 
sections of the confederacy. I regret, sir, that the gentleman from 
Pennsylvania has seen proper to add to his professed statement of facts, 
in reference to the difficulties in Kansas and to the bill now under 
consideration, an unjust attack upon those whose duty it is, and who 
have discharged that duty faithfully, to execute the laws of the country. 
And I may be permitted to remark here, that while gentlemen Irom 
the North denounce the administration for their conduct in the execution 
of the iaws in Kansas, and accuse them of partiality in their enforce- 
ment, there are some, I regret to say, in the southern States who also 
complain of the Executive for his conduct in the execution of the laws 
in that distant Territory. Both sides complain, which is the highest 
evidence that he is faithfully discharging his duty to the whole country. 

I expected, sir, from the calmness with which that gentleman usually 
treats subjects, that the chairman of the Committee on Territories 
would come here with no purpose to inflame the public mind, either in 
this House or in the country. I stand here to-day to vindicate the 
wrong actions neither of southern men nor northern men, but to con- 
demn both alike. I am an impartial observer of the unfortunate events 
which are occurring and have occurred in Kansas Territory. When 
I see a man from my own section of the country violating the law or 
disturbing the pubhc peace, I teel that, educated as he has been, 
trained as he has been, to love law and order, and to be an observer 



r(^2i, 



of the laws of the land, he is as much to blame as those citizens in the 
northern States whose fanaticism prompts them to resistance to the law 
and a violation of the constitution of then- country. I would justify 
neither side, nor is it my purpose particularly or harshly to condemn 
either. This is not the "time for criminations and recriminations. It is 
time now to devise and adopt the means to quiet this excitement in the 
country. Knowing what has been the action of the Executive on these 
questions, I stand "here to defend him from all assaults, from whatever 
(luarter — whether irom the North or from the South, ii-om the East or 
Irom the West — in reference to his conduct in the execution of the law 
in that Territory. 

The gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Stephens) has indicated a 
proposition here this morning which is not new to me, (if I properly 
understand it,) and which I hope to see him introduce at the earliest 
opportunity. I suppose it is a proposition which was introduced into 
the Senate this morning by n Senator from the same State. That prop- 
osition — and the House will understand it when it comes before us — 
is in my judgment fair, equitable, and just, and is based on principles 
on which all men who love the Union can act together, so far as the 
institution of slavery in that Territory is concerned. It simply proposes 
to allow the people now in that Territory to tbrm a constitution under 
jiroper guards and restrictions, and ask admission into the Union, and 
meets with my unqualified approval. » 

I hope it will be brought forward at an early day as an amendment 
of, or substitute for, this bill, and that considerate men of all parties 
will lay aside their prejudices, sectional and political, and adopt it, and 
thus settle at once this disturbing question. Some may object to the 
details of the bill. Some may object to the number of population in 
the Territory ; which is, I confess, a plausible objection in relation to 
other Territories than that of Kansas. But, in view of the importance 
of the settlement of these questions — of restoring peace and quiet to 
the public mind of the country — I am willing to take them with even 
5,000 inhabitants, and make it an exception to the general rule. 1 
shall not complain of others who are not willing to do that ; but I do 
think these matters ought to be surrendered in view of the important 
results to be accomplished by the adoption of the measure to which I 
have referred. 

Having said this much in reference to the mode of pacification which 
has been proposed, I shall now review briefly the history of the causes 
of these difficulties, and the action of the Executive in the enforcement 
of the laws in the Territory of Kansas. 

In 1820 the question arose as to a portion of the territory of the United 
States connecting itself with the local institutions recognised by the 
constitution of the country, which created great excitement and general 
alarm. In the midst of that excitement the question was determined by a 
measure which was called a compromise. It was acquiesced in by the 
South; it was received by the North with demonstrations of dissatis- 
faction, and was in that region a constant subject of denunciation by 
large, and, in many respects, respectable portions of the northern people. 
i think it was subject to the most serious objections; hence 1 am not 



surprised in reviewing our history to tint! that it gave substantial satis- 
faction to the people of no section of the confederacy. From the 
extent, geographical characteristics, and the circumstances which had 
become interwoven with the social frame- work of different parts of the 
country, the constitution could only be formed in a spirit of compromise. 
It is well known that with those men who constituted the convention, 
who had stood shoulder to shoulder through such a struggle ibr civil 
and religious liberty as the world had never witnessed before — men 
who were bound together by a mutual confidence and affection, such 
as spring up only among those who have shared common toils and 
common dangers — there was but one serious obstacle to complete 
harmony and prompt success; that obstacle, in plain language, was the 
existence of domestic slavery in a portion of the States of this Union. 
At one time it seemed to be insurmountable, but it was overcome by 
propositions as simple as they were just. Those principles involved a 
compromising feeling, perhaps of conviction — at all events, a noble 
sacrifice upon the altar of common brotherhood. The compromises 
and concessions of that convention were noble; and most fruitful have 
they been in results, which have tended to our advancement, dignity, 
and prosperity, national, social, and individual. The leading principles 
which I have adverted to are these : 

1st. Absolute and perfect equality among the States of rights, privi- 
leges, and immunities. 

2d. Absolute right of each and every State to determine, establish, 
and maintain its own domestic institutions according to its own con- 
victions of right, expediency, and interest. 

Upon these principles alone could the constitution have been adopted, 
and upon their firm maintenance alone can this Union be preserved. 
Hence, in my judgment, it closed the door to compromises in all iiiture 
time. 

From 1820 to 1S34 this disturbing question but slightly agitated the 
public mind ; but during the last twenty years, I need not remind this 
House how constantly it has been the subject of acrimonious reproach 
and retaliatory denunciation, in and out of Congress. In 1850 and '51 
it assumed a practical form and alarming power in consequence of the 
acquisition of new territory by this government. The question at once 
arose whether the compromise of 1820 should be extended, and the 
line of 36° 30' run out to the Pacific ocean. 

The South, as a peace-offering, were ready to stand by it, as the 
journals of Congress affirm. The North rejected it, as shown by the 
same journals. It was, in my judgment, not merely an invasion of the 
constitutional principles to which I have before adverted, but it was 
objectionable in this : that it undertook to apply an arbitrary geographi- 
Ccd line to a iiiorai and social question. The controlling minds in that 
hour, which tried the strength of the band that binds us, (Cass, Clay, 
and Webster,) found no solution of the problem which they were com- 
pelled to solve, but in the great fundamental principle which relieved 
our fathers from like difficulties in the formation and adoption of the 
constitution itself. 

For twenty years this question had agitated Congress and the country 



wiihout a single beneficial result. They resolved that it should be 
iiansferred from these halls — that all unconstitutional restrictions should 
be removed, and that the people in the Territories should determine for 
themselves the character of their local and domestic institutions under 
which they M^ere to live, with precisely the same rights, but no greater 
than those which were enjoyed by the old thirteen States. Excite- 
ment was intense and clamor loud, but the sober judgment of the peo- 
ple ratified the constitutional action of their representatives. 

In 1S54 the same question was presented, when the necessity arose 
for the organization of the Territories of Kansas and Nebraska, and 
the identical principle was applied for its solution. I, for one, as a 
southern man, did not accept it with reference to any result which 
it might probably produce. I accepted it because it was constitutional, 
just, and safe. I accepted it because I believed it to be the only prin- 
ciple which could secure the legitimate rights of all sections of the 
Union. It had not merely the convictions of my own judgment to 
sustain it, but it had the sanction of the patriotism and wisdom of the 
revolutionary fathers. If this great principle of popular sovereignty 
be justly carried out and sacredly maintained, it will give in time to 
come what we have enjoyed in the past — union, strength, prosperity, 
and happiness. If it be struck down by passion, fanaticism, or sec- 
tional prejudice in either section of the confederation, I will not per- 
mit myself to contemplate the woes that await us. What I wish to 
see, then, as an American citizen, respecting and cherishing, as I do, 
the mass of my countrymen, in whatever latitude they may be, and 
loving and desiring to protect every part of our country's soil, is, that 
this principle shall be fairly, justly, and impartially carried out in 
Kansas, and every where else. And whatever may be the character 
of the institutions it shall introduce into Kansas or any other portion 
of our broad domain, I shall yield to the result a cheerful, a willing 
acquiesence. Protection to all in the Territory of Kansas, in .what- 
ever latitude they may have been reared, or whatever sentiments or 
opinions they may entertain, consistent with a republican form of gov- 
ernment, is what I desire. I desire the protection of persons and 
property ybr oZZ; I desire security of freedom in the exercise of the 
privilege dearest to freemen — that of the elective franchise ybr a//; 
and I, for one, am ready to clothe the Executive, if he does not already 
possess them, with ample yower and means to secure these results. But 
let me warn gentlemen, that they can never be attained by resistance 
to the laws of the land ; that no amount of means which can be raised 
to aid in setting those laws at defiance — that no declarations of assem- 
blies, legislative or otherwise, usurping the functions of the judiciary, 
and attempting to settle the constitutionality of legislative enactments, 
can compass the results which, in common with all patriotic men, I trust, 
I truly desire to see consummated. Such efforts can only engender 
strife and bad feeling between the different sections of the Union, 
produce personal collisions between citizens of the same common gov- 
ernment, protected alike by the same constitution and laws, and enjoy- 
ing the same common heritage bequeathed to us by our revolutionary 
fathers. The state of feeling now existing between the citizens of the 



different sections of the confederacy is of an alarming character, and 
it becomes the imperative duty of every one who desires the perpetu- 
ation of the Union to use all fair means in his power to allay this sec- 
tional strife, and restore that harmony and good feehng which so hap- 
pily existed prior to the agitation of what has been termed this " vexed 
question of African slavery." 

The excitement which now exists has been, in a great measure, 
produced by the personal collisions which have occurred in Kansas 
Territory, resulting in many instances in bloodshed, murder, and as- 
sassinations amongst those who have a com.mon interest in the same 
government, which extends alike its protection to all its citizens. It is 
not my purpose now to discuss ihe question of who is right or who is 
wrong. I believe citizens of hoth sections have acted imprudently in 
reference lo the difficulties which now exist in the Territory of Kansas. 
This is not the time to discuss the causes of these unfortunate difficul- 
ties, which are last bringing into disrepute the fair fame of our republic. 
They must be stopped, jelu A the question is how is it to be done? The 
President of the United States has done all in his power to prevent in- 
surrection aud preserve the public peace in that Territory, and I rejoice 
to know that his effurts are about to succeed. But what has Congress 
done to aid him in preserving order in that distracted country ? Nothing. 
Notwithstanding this is an extraordinary emergency, he has been left alone 
to use the limited means and power conferred upon him by the consti- 
tution, to see that the laws of the United States are faithfully executed. 
Passing by the annual message of the President of the United States, 
in which our attention was called to the difficulties likely to occ«r there, 
on the 24th day of January last he sent a special inessage to both 
houses of Congress informing us of the' state ot affairs which then ex- 
isted in the Territory of Kansas, and urged us to place at his disposal 
the means necessary to preventthe disgraceful occurrences which have 
since transpired. In that message the President used the following 
emphatic language: 

" No citizen of our countrj' sliould permit himself to forget that he is a part of its govern- 
ment, and entiUed to be heard in the determination of its policy and its measures, and that, 
therefore, the highest considerations of personal honor and patriotism require him to main- 
tain, by whatever of power or influence he may possess, the integrity of the laws of the 
republic. 

" Entertaining these views, it will be my imperative duty to exert the whole power of the 
federal executive to support public order in the Territory; to vindicate its laws, whether 
federal or local, against all attempts of organized resistance ; and so to protect its people in the 
establishment of their own institutions, undisturbed by encroachment from without, and in 
the full enjoyment of the rights of self-goverumeat assured to them by .the constitution and' 
the organic act of Congress.'' 

The House of Representatives, it is true, was then in a disorgan- 
ized or unorganized state. It was, however, soon after organized, but 
took no steps to aid the President in preserving order in Kansas. No 
steps having been taken by Congress to aid the Executive in enforcing 
the law in that Territory, "on the ilth day of February last, the Presi- 
dent issued his proclamation, reciting the disorders which had previ- 
ously occurred there, and declaring that all the power vested in him 
by the constitution would be exercised to execute the laws of Con- 
gress and of the Territory, and to prevent the invasion of the rights of 



G 

the citizens thereof, coining from whatever source it might — whether 
from the North or the South. Still Congress remained silent, and to 
this day has done no act to furnish the Executive department of the 
governm.ent with the means to suppress the lawless violence or to 
quell the organized opposition to the laws of the country, which for 
some time has existed on the borders of Kansas. If, therefore, any 
branch of the government is justly censurable fjr the state of things 
now exisdng in that Territory, it is the legislative, and not the execu- 
tive — it is Congress, and not the President. 

During all this time the abolition press of the North have had hired 
emissaries and correspondents in the West to exaggerate the state of 
things there — to keep up the idea of a civil war actually existing — in 
order to inflame the public mind and continue an excitement from 
which they expect to derive benefit at the coming presidential elec- 
tion. But, sir, in despite of that element in this House — which, to 
those unacquainted with our system of government, would seem to be 
driving the Union to destruction — the President has, with a prudence 
equalled only by Washington, and a firmness and courage such as only 
characterized Andrew Jackson, enforced the law in that distracted 
Territory, and dispersed the lawless bands, no difference from what 
quinter they had come, whose object was resistance to the laws and the 
disturbance of the public peace of the country. Fortunate it is for the 
country that we have a President, who, regardless of public clamor 
from any section of tlie Union, or of personal consequence to himself, 
has the courage and the patriotism to execute faithfully all the laws, 
withoirt regard to the locality of their application or the domestic 
interests to be affected thereb}^. Such has been the course of the 
present Executive in reference to these excidng dilSculties ; and such 
conduct must meet the approval of every one in this House and in the 
whole country, except those whose fanaticism and political madness 
have determined them in their own minds to openly rebel against the 
constitution and the laws of their country. Such there are here ; and 
if M. De Tocqueville, the French traveller and author, were to revisit 
our country, and then favor the world with another edition of his 
views of government, the history of the present House of Represen- 
tatives of the American Congress would furnish him with ample ma- 
terial for an additional chapter to prove his favorite theory of the 
" inevitable downfall of all republics." 

But, in the language of President Pierce, "if, as I fully believe, our 
fathers were not only guided and sustained through the -changing scenes 
and struggles of the revolution, but were inspired after its close to de- 
vise and adopt the constitution, by Omnipotent Power, we may repose 
upon an humble but unwavering faith that that Power will not permit 
the madness of their children to destroy it." 

The dangers which now menace the Union are the result, first, of the 
efforts of political demagogues to excite and inflame the public mind in 
different localities to aid in the promotion of those whose ambition 
prompts them to a reckless disregard of their duty to themselves, to 
their country, and to posterity, and causes them thus to endano-er our 
republican institutions for the paltry consideration of a personal sec- 
tional triumph. 



Secondly, in a misunderstanding on the part of the people of the 
non-slaveholding States as to the motives, purpose, and policy of the 
slaveholding States with reference to the extension of their peculiar 
institution. I sny here as a southern man, and 1 beheve the sentiment 
will be sanctioned by. nearly every southern representative on this 
floor, that if a bill were introduced in Congress to estahlisli slavery in 
Kansas, or any other Territory of the United States, I should unhesi- 
tatingly vole against it. And this I would do, notwithstanding I hon- 
estly believe African slavery to be a moral, a social, and a political 
blessing, applicable alike to the master and to the slave. Why, then, 
cannot the North meet us upon this common ground, and declare that 
they would not prohibit slavery by congressidnal enactment in any of the 
Territories of the United Stales ? This would leave the people to be 
aflected by the institution to determine the question for themselves in 
their own way, "subject only to the constitution of the United States." 
All who have carefully studied the history of the past, and who have 
acquired that knowledge of human nature necessary to enable them 
to form a correct idea of the result of events every day transpiring 
around them, must know that whatever may be the action of Congress, 
the people to be affected by this institution will ultimately determine 
the question for themselves, and in that determination will be governed 
alone by their own notions of interest, of principle, of public policy, 
and by those influences which usually move to action the public mhid 
of the country. Why, then, can we not meet together upon a com- 
mon ground, without regard to personal consequences to ourselves, 
and settle this question upon those principles of justice and equality, 
which ought always to characterize the action of American freemen? 

Now, Mr.- Speaker, 1 speak here only for myself, and I say to this 
House, what i honestly believe, that if the Territory of Kansas forms 
a State constitution tolerating the institution of slavery, it wfll be the 
result of the efforts of those who are striving to make her a non-slave- 
holding State. I did not vote for the Kansas-Nebraska bill for the 
purpose of making Kansas a slave State. I voted for it to remove an 
unconstitutional restriction in the Territory, and to restore that equality 
among the States of the Union which existed at the adoption of the 
federal constitution. I wifl not speak harshly of any of the political 
parties of the country; but the efforts of those in the free States to force 
upon that Territory a system of laws and institutions without regard to 
the interests or opinions of the bona fide citizens thereof, has produced 
a counter movement on the part of many in the southern States, who 
did believe it important to an institution affecting alike their principles 
and their interest, and to the Union, that the Territory of Kansas should 
be made a slaveholding State. But, sir, when men go there, whether 
from the North or from the South, to engage in civil strife and disturb 
the public peace of the country, I condemn them. Nor shall personal 
consequences to myself ever prevent me from speaking my mind as 
freely in reference to the conduct of citizens of my own section or State, 
as of those who reside in a dilferent latitude. 

I care not what may be the sentiments of the people of Massachusetts 
or of Vermont, of New York or of Pennsylvania, if their representatives 




L?^.????Y OF CONGRESS 
8 

come forward here and vole for a just and equitable s* „,„„ 

questions in order to quiet the public mind and thus ; " ®^^ ^89 354 04 
of the States, they would be met, I am satisfied, by the southern mem- 
bers of this House in a spirit such as their constituents do not believe 
exists in that section of the country. There is a conservative feeling 
here, and I believe it exists with every member from a southern State, 
and that feeling rises far above an}^ personal consideration affecting 
individual members of this House. It is time we should quit-^;alking of 
the South, of the North, of the East, or of the West. It is time we 
should come together, and talk as one jieoplc in regard to our great 
country and the interests which are to affect its future prosperity and 
future happiness. I wish to see these sectional feelings laid aside. It 
is time that members should summon the courage to create, instead of 
Ibllowing, the pubhc sentiment of their particular districts, if there 
were any quality to be admired above all others in that distinguished 
man from the State of Massachusetts, who fell here in this hall at what 
he considered his post of duty, John Quincy Adams, it was that he 
never attempted to tbllow, but always to lead, public opinion in his own 
section of the country. This was a virtue in him which I always ad- 
mired. Are there not now here from the North men who, regardless of 
the public clamor that reigns in their country, excited by demagogues, 
by men who hope to ride into public power upon the public excitement 
which they have created — are there, I say, no men here from the 
northern States who, belonging to that party which has been denomi- 
nated the republican party, are ready to step Ibrward and create a 
sound pubhc opinion m his own section, instead of following in the 
wake of that morbid sentiment fermented by those who care not a 
groat for the honor of their country or of the perpetuity of our free in- 
stitutions'? I hope that there are some. I believe there are men 
enough in this House, if left to their own sober judgment, irrespective 
of the feelings which have been improperly excited, of their constitu- 
ents, irrespective of the public clamor that has been raised in their 
immediate districts, who are conservative in their notions, and feelings, 
and principles, and who desire a settlement of this question on princi- 
ples just, fair, and equitable to all sections of the Union. I hope that 
that will be done ; and when it is done, I will, so far as I am concerned, 
have no desire to be any longer a member of the Congress of the United 
States. 

In accordance with my promise, I now renew the motion of the gen- 
tleman from Pennsylvania, (Mr. Grow,) to go into Committee of the 
Whole on the state of the Union. 



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